1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to interactive multimedia systems. More particularly, the invention is directed to DVD systems which are able to selectively control the processing of content from the World Wide Web and the like, and to web-based systems which are able to selectively access DVD systems and the like.
2. Background of the Related Art
Digital Versatile Discs (or variously Digital Video Discs or DVDs) and the World Wide Web (WWW) are extremely powerful interactive multimedia tools. However, they both have their drawbacks. Although DVDs are capable of storing large amounts of high-quality video and audio data, once they are manufactured their content is essentially static; it cannot be changed, updated or personalized. Also, the limited interactivity does not meet the demands of many of today's computer-literate users. Further, although the WWW is dynamic and rapidly changing, it is not capable of providing high-quality multimedia content in real time for many users due to limited bandwidth.